To reclaim and protect your privacy, take the following steps to build a strong online defense perimeter
2. Next Install Browser Add-ons
3. Switch to a Private Search Engine
4. Thwart Search Engine Tracking URLs
5. Additional Ad Blocking Steps for Hiding Your Tracks
6. Subscribe to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) Service
8. Test to Assess Your Security / Privacy
1. Use a Browser that Respects Your Privacy
By default, most browsers will contain lots of private information unique to you, including your browser type, browsing history, usernames, passwords, geographical location, IP address, computer type, operating system, and configuration, auto-fill information (such as your name, address, etc.). All of this data can be collected, updated, stored in massive databases, and constantly analyzed to identify and track not only your online browsing activity, but also purchase preferences, physical location, geographic travel patterns.
Here are some great options for selecting a secure, privacy focused browser.
Firefox – Firefox is a great browser for both privacy and security. It is highly customizable to give you the level of security and privacy you desire, while also being compatible with many browser extensions.
Waterfox – Waterfox is a fork of Firefox, with telemetry and other items stripped out to give users more privacy. It is based on Firefox 56 with ESR patches.
Tor – The Tor browser is hardened version of Firefox that also utilizes the Tor network by default (but this can be disabled). It should be noted that Tor was created by the US military and continues to be funded by the US government today. (See the in-depth Tor guide for more details.)
Brave – Brave is based upon Chromium (the open-source version of Google Chrome) that has been modified to provide a privacy-focused browser right out of the box. By default, it will block ads and trackers, and it’s also customizable, fast, and has built-in protection against browser fingerprinting.
Do not use the following popular browsers if you have privacy concerns:
Google Chrome – It offers good security, but it is extremely invasive and collects all kinds of private data, which Google uses for targeted ads.
Opera – This browser technology was acquired by a Chinese company that has a troubling privacy policy regarding data collection and sharing practices. Plus, all Chinese company’s operations and technology products are closely monitored by Chinese government, which raises red flags concerning security and privacy compromise through spying on and monitoring of user activity.
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) – This browser is riddled with security and privacy holes (such as ActiveX) that are constantly being exploited and compromised by hackers and can lacks user configurable parameters to limit privacy tracking technology.
Microsoft Edge browser – this new browser does offer more security than IE, since it’s based on open-source Chromium code base. However, it seriously compromises user privacy, since it uses proprietary extensions, many unclear settings, and a lot of data collection enabled by default.